M36B1 Tank Destroyer question

[tao]

If the Sherman had the lock on the front of the hull..why move it..advantage being placed in the rear?

[tomhugill]

If the Sherman had the lock on the front of the hull..why move it..advantage being placed in the rear?

Tanks usually travel barrel to the rear, I guess so the barrel doesn't tangle with things as it goes round corners. At a guess the 75mm and 105mm Sherman's have short barrels which don't overhang much, the firefly with the longer barrel has it on the rear. However this is guesswork on my part

[MichaelC]

If the Sherman had the lock on the front of the hull..why move it..advantage being placed in the rear?

Tanks usually travel barrel to the rear, I guess so the barrel doesn't tangle with things as it goes round corners. At a guess the 75mm and 105mm Sherman's have short barrels which don't overhang much, the firefly with the longer barrel has it on the rear. However this is guesswork on my part

I have been thinking about this too and I also believe it has to do with the length of the barrel, so I start thinking of examples where there is a long barrel and the travel lock is still at the front, and Panther and King Tiger comes to mine. But if you look at their application, Panther is actually very close to the turret on the upper hull but the turret is somewhat set back, and the KT has to have a very large travel lock in order to reach the barrel from the front glacis plate.

So definitely the length of the barrel drives the location but it also has something to do with how useful it is to have it in the front (i.e. Far enough to actually serve a purpose, and enough space on the front plate to actually have one in place).

If you look at assault gun that doesn't have a choice, their travel locks are all massive (Nashorn, Hummel, JagdTiger and Elephant).

[tao]

Good thinking on that. In terms of actually moving it on the Mato..curious how it was/is to be moved..is it screwed on to the front?
Also I really like everything about it- from the detail to the suspension, gears etc!

[tomhugill]

Good thinking on that. In terms of actually moving it on the Mato..curious how it was/is to be moved..is it screwed on to the front?
Also I really like everything about it- from the detail to the suspension, gears etc!

It's a separate component so it should be possible to move it without damage.

Re travel locks I think the tiger and King tiger had internal travel locks for their guns.

[tao]

Thanks Tom..curious is it and other components are glued on? Or some screwed in?

[tomhugill]

Thanks Tom..curious is it and other components are glued on? Or some screwed in?

I'm afraid I don't have the tank to hand, I think the tools are screwed, the headlamps and guards a glued, I would think the travel locks glued too

[tao]

Thanks Tom! Either way should be easy to relocate.

[greengiant]

I think the main reason for the rear travel lock was to keep the gun secure on the ships and reduce the tanks length so more could be fitted on each transport. Just supposition but seems to make sense since once In theater I doubt the travel locks were used very much unless they were then rail shipped closer to the front lines.

[tomhugill]

I think the main reason for the rear travel lock was to keep the gun secure on the ships and reduce the tanks length so more could be fitted on each transport. Just supposition but seems to make sense since once In theater I doubt the travel locks were used very much unless they were then rail shipped closer to the front lines.

A slight aside from this but I belive some of the tanks with larger caliber guns had to use travel locks when not in action, Im thinking it was the jagdtiger that had issues with the sights going out of calibration due to vibration when moving over rough terrain without the travel lock on!